Before McDonalds came to the shores of Blighty we had our own brand of fast food burger restaurant in the form of Wimpy, or Wimpy Bars as the restaurants were often referred to. Â Wimpy took their name from the character J. Wellington Wimpy from the Popeye cartoons, as he was a bit of a burger addict, although this character was never used to promote the restaurants as far as I know.

The first Wimpy Bars opened in the 1950s but they were at their most popular during the 1970s and 1980s, although by the time the eighties arrived McDonalds were already doing a good job of crushing poor old Wimpy under foot.

Whilst some of the Wimpy Bars worked under the counter order system this was originally seen as being far too un-British, so the majority had waitress service initially. Â The burgers were more to British tastes at the time as well, since they were far more plain and simple than McDonalds with all it’s weird relish and those yucky slices of gherkin (I hate those). Â Of course, as time has gone by British tastes have become more American, and Wimpy is now all but gone from the high streets of the UK. Â These days you’re most likely to find a Wimpy at a motorway services.

During their hay day though, Wimpy were very popular, sporting the twee slogan “Wimpy is the home of the hamburger, we’ve got the greatest burgers under the bun” and their mascot Mr. Wimpy, who was basically a mutant Beefeater guard from the Tower of London. Â Dressed in the well known red uniform of the Beefeater’s, he was a squat little chap who’s hat was so big it covered most of his face. Â All you could really see was a big round nose and a tiny little bit of his smile.

Mr. Wimpy featured on the TV adverts and promotional items for Wimpy, including badges and freebies such as paper travel game books. Â He even had his own computer game, which was a version of the old arcade game Burger Time. Â Mr. Wimpy had to make burgers by walking over buns, beefburgers and slices of cheese to make them drop to the bottom of the screen to build a burger. Â Quite fun, and it was one of the first games I had on my Commodore 64.

I adored Wimpy, it was a real treat waaaay before MacDonalds. They were the first place I had a knickerbocker Glory and they had tomato shaped ketchup bottles! And chicken burgers that are probably the stuff of nightmare to Jamie Oliver….

My parents opened their first Wimpy in the 60’s and then opened several more after that. I grew up living above our first one for awhile and when old enough I worked in them too. Great to hear that people still remember the earlier ones with fondness.

Wow, that must be every kids dream, to live above a burger restaurant!

You might be able to confirm something Sherry. I have a vague memory of Wimpy doing a dessert called a Brown Derby, which I think was a doughnut topped with a scoop of ice cream covered in chocolate sauce. Does that ring any bells?

Yep, they still have a Wimpy round our way although it’s a long time since I went in. I have good memories of their milk shakes – proper runny, frothy shakes in thick glasses (I was horrified when I had my first McDonald’s milkshake, which you could hardly suck through the straw). I loved the mascot too.

For anyone interested Wimpy were bought out by BurgerKing and most of the old Wimpy sites were converted to Burger King. However a group of Wimpy franchisees decided to group together to continue as Wimpy rather than move over to Burger King.

I have to say that wimpy are my favorite burgers, i like the half pounder that comes with a brown bun. If you ever visit Eastcote, Pinner, Middlesex. Near london, on the met line. Go visit the wimpy they serve the BEST burgers and fries they also have the best coffee too. They are family run and the guy who makes the coffee takes so much trouble to get them just right. Burgers always cooked fresh simply divine.

I wonder if there is a Wimpy in Scarbough i am having a few days away soon….

There still seems to be a lot of support for Wimpy against Ronald and the King, which is nice to hear. I suppose it’s getting close now to supporting your local independent store (almost). I assume there still is a Wimpy franchise head office that they all report too in some way or another?

Whilst I am supportive of a good old GB brand name surviving the onslaught of Macdonalds – I have to say that the Wimpey in Queen Street, Newton Abbot, Devon is an absolute disgrace. I think it must be being run by a fairly new franchisee because in the past I have visited there about twice a year and have never encountered any problems – but this month we walked out in disgust after waiting 50 minutes to be served, and after numerous excuses but notably absolutely no apology. Zero customer service and an unbelievably bad attitude. Never again.

i went to a kids birthday party in the 80s. and we got given a ghost busters can (like a can of coke) but empty, and when u opend it a green ghost (slimer) came out. just wondering if eny 1 remembers. if so where could i find 1 tanx